There is only one manager who has won league titles with three clubs in Europe’s top five divisions since 2014 and he is out of work. Antonio Conte is the serial winner who inherited a Chelsea team who had come 10th, 31 points behind first, and made them champions in his debut year, who won Juventus’ first Scudetto in nine years (officially, anyway) and Inter’s first in 11, before resigning last week.
In a sense, he ought to be the prime candidate for every managerial vacancy. And, in a summer when Real Madrid, Tottenham, Juventus, Roma, Napoli and Lille have had vacancies, when perhaps Paris Saint-Germain might, there have been plenty. The managerial merry-go-round feels busier than normal. Conte has got off, but perhaps he might not get back on again.
Because he also feels unemployable. Not on footballing grounds: despite an underwhelming record in Europe, he is clearly one of the world’s elite managers. But he shows a repeated inability to manage upwards and a continued reluctance to grasp footballing economics that jarred in wealthier eras and makes him unsuitable for virtually everyone in straitened times.
Conte’s departure from Inter, fresh from ending Juventus’ domination of Serie A, which he had also started, is explained by their need to cut costs: that, in turn, reflects their owners’ links to the Chinese government, which is suddenly less interested in football. It also is a consequence of huge debts, which are in part a consequence of Conte’s spending.
Two years of Conte have brought Inter Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez, Christian Eriksen, Arturo Vidal, Achraf Hakimi, Aleksandar Kolarov, Ashley Young, Diego Godin, Nicola Barella, Stefano Sensi, Matteo Politano, Valentino Lazaro and many another. The transfer fees and wages amount to a colossal cost: Conte’s predilection for signing ageing players means many have a minimal resale value. He has discarded some soon after signing and tried to get rid of others. He has won Serie A with his 2015 Premier League all stars but that may not look a formula based on long-term sustainability.
And there are recurring themes. Conte is often a fine judge of a player, but he invariably wants to sign everyone. His reign at Chelsea unravelled amid his often public grievances that they did not sign Virgil van Dijk, Leonardo Bonucci, Fernando Llorente, Kyle Walker, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alex Sandro, Sanchez and Lukaku. Some, undoubtedly, would have been better than some of those Chelsea did bring in – Tiemoue Bakayoko, Danny Drinkwater and Davide Zappacosta – while the positive legacy of Conte’s recruitment, in N’Golo Kante and Antonio Rudiger, was apparent in Thomas Tuchel’s Champions League-winning side.
And yet the overriding sense is that Conte is a man with no concept of a budget and who seems to think that football clubs have bottomless pits of money. Perhaps that lack of perspective can account for his success; he may think a driven approach works with the board as well as the players. But his peers can demonstrate that diplomacy can bring longevity while their coaching prowess can still provide success. Pep Guardiola wanted Harry Maguire and Jurgen Klopp wanted Timo Werner but neither makes it a continual refrain. Ambition is not just demonstrated by perpetual trading.
And consider the current vacancies. Does Daniel Levy, with his famous fondness for only doing what he deems good deals, want a barrage of criticism from his manager for not buying everyone? There was a time when Conte would have seemed a perfect fit for Real Madrid, a pragmatic short-termist who could win a title or two and then go, much as Fabio Capello did, leaving others to pick up the pieces. But Real spent nothing last summer; like Inter, they will be looking to sell even as they no doubt try to plot a way to fund another Galactico. Their next manager, nevertheless, will have to conjure something from his inheritance.
Maybe Conte is a product of his time, of the days when Serie A was the world’s richest leagues and presidents were often tempted to spend more in their footballing arms race. But now he feels a man out of time, one with the tactical knowledge and the coaching skills to excel almost anywhere but whose incessant requests for more spending and more signings suggest a lack of realism and which could be a deterrent to prospective employers. That Conte did a terrific job with one of the least talented Italy teams of the last six decades and when the nature of international football meant he could not buy shows it is possible for him to flourish in a world without transfers. But it would need a different mindset and for Conte to stop being the most unreasonable man in management.
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